Une nouvelle controversée étude prétend que les anciens Égyptiens auraient pu utiliser un hysystème de levage hydraulique to construct the Pyramid of Djoser, the world's first pyramid. Built around 4,700 years ago, the six-tiered, four-sided structure on the Saqqara plateau was the subject of research conducted by French scientists.
Les auteurs affirment qu'à la suite d'une analyse transdisciplinaire, ils ont découvert qu'un ascenseur hydraulique aurait pu être utilisé pour construire ce monument de 204 pieds de haut. Prouesse architecturale, des générations d'archéologues se sont demandé comment les ouvriers avaient pu construire la pyramide sans utiliser d'équipements modernes. L’équipe de recherche affirme que les anciens Égyptiens utilisaient l’eau d’un bras voisin du Nil pour concevoir un système hydraulique moderne comprenant un barrage, une usine de traitement de l’eau et un monte-charge hydraulique.
For the river-powered system to work, water would have flowed from the Nile to the 1.2-m dam, which filtered out sediment before the water traveled downstream to the "Deep Trench," a water treatment "facility" containing several basins to collect any remaining particles. Next, a series of underground conduits would deliver water 92-ft beneath the pyramid to a hydraulic elevator. The force of water collecting in the well would have been used to float stones up and down a shaft, delivering them to workers.
Some people, including archeologist Julia Budka, aren't sure that the study checks out. Budka, who works at Ludwig Maximillian University of Munich, noted that there were no Egyptologists or archeologists directly involved and further geological studies would be needed to gain a better understanding of the proposed hydraulic system.